https://www.canadagoose-jackets-online.com Learning how Russia changed the Canadian game

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canada goose uk outlet For me, September 1972 canada goose outlet toronto was that moment. It was game eight of the Canada Russia Summit Series. I was in the seventh grade at school and they brought TVs into the classroom and we were allowed to watch game 8 the game that had the whole country canada goose outlet black friday holding its breath. That was September 28th canada goose outlet store uk 40 years ago! canada goose uk outlet

My parents, Magnus and Anne, had flown to Moscow, along with 3,000 patriotic hockey fans as Team Canada battled the Soviet Union’s National Hockey Team for hockey supremacy. My parents were part of that «Da Da Canada, Nyet Nyet Soviet» brigade a fifth canada goose outlet ontario column of die hard hockey fans giving their all for the Canadian boys defending this nation’s honour.

Back home, in Burnaby, British Columbia, I’d watched all the games on TV. The Canadian half of the series had been brutal. Our national canada goose jacket outlet uk pride took canada goose outlet new york city a beating canada goose outlet new york when the NHL’s Canadian best ran into the Soviet’s powerhouse.

If you’ve ever seen the Stalinist era propaganda posters of tough, Russian youth, the Communist revolution brawny and wholesome, gods, ready to conquer the world well, that was the Russian team. The face of the evil empire.

buy canada goose jacket Not to suggest we were slouches. Our heroes were the stuff of Hockey Night in Canada and Stanley Cup victories: Esposito, Clark, Ellis, Cornoyer, Lapointe, Mahovolich. And behind the bench John Ferguson and Harry Sinden. Born of Canadian ice rinks and this nation’s passion for our game and the very embodiment of hockey holiness. buy canada goose jacket

canada goose So, as my parents headed for Moscow and I sat watching the games on TV, Canadians were forced to confront their own hockey mortality. canada goose

cheap Canada Goose As a 12 year old, I watched those games and I loved the determination of our Canadian stars, but one player stood out above canada goose outlet store calgary the rest and he was a Russian: Alexander Yakushev. He became my hero and that was the reason I wanted to become a hockey player. We all need heroes and Yakushev became mine and canada goose outlet orlando so began my fascination with Russian canada goose outlet online hockey. cheap Canada Goose

canada goose coats For those who were perhaps living on another planet and paying attention (with apologies to the unborn), Canada’s heroes fought back and won the series in the last moments of the eighth and final game. Our national pride was restored, but in our private moments we knew that it was only a matter of time before we met them again and, having figured out our national game, they might take it away from us. canada goose coats

buy canada goose jacket cheap Fast forward to 2008, I was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and the first thing I did was thank the Russians because every time I played against them I ramped up my game. They canada goose outlet official brought out the best in me. I also told the world that Yakushev canada goose outlet online uk was my idol. buy canada goose jacket cheap

In canada goose jacket outlet store the intervening years from that 1972 series that inspired me, I went from peewee hockey to college hockey, to the NHL. I found myself amid the best and honoured as one of the best. Surrounded by Gretzky canada goose uk site and Messier and the fantastic Edmonton Oilers we canada goose factory outlet toronto location won five Stanley Cups. canada goose outlet england Traded and eventually finding a home with the New York Rangers I won one more: six in all.

canada goose uk black friday When I eventually retired I kept playing. And kept thinking and learning more about our game. And the more I did, the more I came to realize just how much Russian hockey teams and players had contributed to and changed our game even canada goose outlet paypal before that fabled 1972 series, or the later match ups, like the 1987 Canada Cup in which I was honoured to represent Canada. canada goose uk black friday

canada goose store The more and more I thought about those influences, the more I wanted to make a film about Russian hockey and how it had shaped the Canadian game in fact, the entire game of hockey. And canada goose uk now I have! canada goose store

Although I thought about this for years, I started my journey of discovery only a year ago. I learned that the Soviet hockey canada goose outlet toronto address program began in 1946, after World War Two, and the architect was General Vasili Stalin, son of the Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin.

canadian goose jacket Stalin the younger believed in Soviet world domination certainly on canada goose outlet near me ice. But where to begin. The Russians had a soccer coach, named Anatoli Tarasov. A genius, Tarasov set out to revolutionize our game. He employed soccer tactics abandoning the rigid Canadian game and worked out new strategies, like doubling back with five man units completely involved in the play. canadian goose jacket

Canada Goose Outlet Vasily Stalin also gave Tarasov a ringer: a soccer great named Bobrov, a powerful athlete, sports legend and Communist idol. As magnificent as Bobrov was at soccer, he was also a great hockey player. The Soviets practiced, studied Canadian tactics, adapted and then waited until 1954 to unleash their newly designed scheme. They won the world championship in 1954 and stunned the world. Canada Goose Outlet

canada goose clearance sale One has to remember that until the 1980s, Olympic rules dominated international sports. Professional athletes were banned. Only amateurs could compete at competitions such as the World Hockey Championships. Of course, Canada’s best players quickly moved to the professional ranks of the NHL and so couldn’t compete. canada goose clearance sale

Canada Goose sale In the communist Soviet Union, professionalism was a dirty, capitalist word. Their National Team players were called «amateur» even though most were in the Russian Red Army and paid, full time to only practice and play hockey. Canada Goose sale

It meant that the only teams Canada could put on the ice at the World Championships were real amateurs, usually our Allan Cup champs, to face amateurs from other Western countries and the so called amateurs from the Soviet Union and Communist Czechoslovakia.

Our Senior League teams had been well capable of defeating the Europeans. In 1954, we sent the East York Lindhursts, an okay Ontario Senior B Team, and we were accustomed to that being enough to dominate the hockey world. In the first six games the Lindhursts outscored their opponents 57 5.

uk canada goose But that year the Soviets had entered the World Championships for the first time and, in the gold medal match, the Lindhursts were taught a lesson by the Bobrov led Soviets, defeating the Canadians 7 2. uk canada goose

The torch was next passed to the 1955 Penticton Vees. By isolating and hammering the Soviet star, Bobrov, the Canadians upset Tarasov’s plans and humbled the Russians 5 0. But the writing was on the wall. The Soviets were a growing force in the hockey world.

cheap canada goose uk The Whitby Dunlops won the 1958 World Championship, captained by future Boston Bruins coach and General Manager, Harry Sinden, but it was becoming apparent that Canada’s Senior teams were not up to the task. One man took very careful notice: a priest and sports superstar, Father David Bauer. cheap canada goose uk

canada goose outlet A native of the Kitchener Waterloo region, Father Bauer had attended St. Michael’s College School in the 1940s and was a formidable hockey player. He went off to World War II and, when he returned to Canada, Fr. Bauer entered the priesthood.

Back at St. Mike’s he became a teacher and hockey coach and inspired a generation of future hockey players.

In the 1960s, Fr. Bauer, by then at St. Mark’s College at the University of British Columbia, assembled the best amateur hockey players in the country, enrolled them in university and this student athlete group took on the ever growing Soviet hockey force.

I was one of those players that played on the National Team in 1980. Fr. Bauer’s influence on me knows no bounds. When I was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in September of 2008, I was honoured as a special member canada goose outlet hong kong of the «brotherhood» of hockey. Hundreds before canada goose outlet boston had preceded me and I canada goose outlet sale look forward to the talented players to come who will join us in the future.

canada goose clearance But, recalling Fr. Bauer that day I almost broke up remembering how inspirational he was and how he touched us all. canada goose clearance

canada goose black friday sale «Although he knew the game inside and out,» I said, «he was more concerned with the human spirit. He had such an inner strength. And it rubbed off on me. I was blessed to have met him, while he walked among us.» canada goose black friday sale.